Fabrication and Characterization of Double-Layer Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 Thin Films for Micro-Electromechanical Systems

In this paper, we address the fabrication and characterization of bimorph structures with relatively thick double-layered Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT) thin films. The PZT/PZT layers are deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. Hysteresis loops of polarization and electrical field for the top and bottom PZT thin films revealed good ferroelectric characteristics with remanent polarization at approximately 20 µC/cm2 and a coersive electric field of about 100 kV/cm. The vibration tests of fabricated bimorph cantilevers during electrical voltage application revealed a twofold displacement compared with single layer driving, and the piezoelectric coefficient value d31 is estimated to be 13 pm/V. The residual stress difference between the top and bottom layers after the annealing process is calculated to be -0.32 MPa. For a further thickening of the bimorph structure, 6-µm-thick PZT/PZT is also sputtered. The thicker bimorph has a smaller residual stress difference, -30 MPa, between the two layers prepared without the annealing process. The evaluated results demonstrate that the PZT/PZT bimorph structures are applicable to micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.

[1]  J. Akedo,et al.  Fabrication and Characterization of Optical Micro-Electro-Mechanical System Scanning Devices Using BaTiO , 2011 .

[2]  J. Akedo,et al.  Fabrication and Characterization of Optical Micro-Electro-Mechanical System Scanning Devices Using BaTiO3-Based Lead-Free Piezoelectric-Coated Substrate Sheet by Aerosol Deposition , 2011 .

[3]  H. Kotera,et al.  Multilayer Thin-Film Capacitor Fabricated by Radio-Frequency Magnetron Sputtering , 2011, 2011 International Symposium on Applications of Ferroelectrics (ISAF/PFM) and 2011 International Symposium on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy and Nanoscale Phenomena in Polar Materials.

[4]  O. Tabata,et al.  Development of piezoelectric MEMS deformable mirror , 2011 .

[5]  Kensuke Kanda,et al.  Microfabrication and Application of Series-Connected PZT Elements , 2009 .

[6]  H. Kotera,et al.  High coupling piezoelectric thin films of Pb"Zr,Ti…O3-based ternary perovskite compounds for GHz-range film bulk acoustic resonators , 2009 .

[7]  H. Kotera,et al.  Simple Fabrication of Metal-Based Piezoelectric MEMS by Direct Deposition of $\hbox{Pb}(\hbox{Zr}, \hbox{Ti})\hbox{O}_{3}$ Thin Films on Titanium Substrates , 2009, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[8]  K. Itaya,et al.  Optimization of Deposition Process and Microscopic Characterization of Highly Oriented Aluminum Nitride Thin Films for Bimorph Structures of Piezoelectric Tunable Capacitors , 2009 .

[9]  E. S. Kim,et al.  Single- and Triaxis Piezoelectric-Bimorph Accelerometers , 2008, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[10]  J. Ying,et al.  Microfabrication of PZT force sensors for minimally invasive surgical tools , 2006 .

[11]  M. Esashi,et al.  From MEMS to nanomachine , 2005 .

[12]  J. N. Avaritsiotis,et al.  A study on the performance of bending mode piezoelectric accelerometers , 2005 .

[13]  Ryutaro Maeda,et al.  Broadband MEMS shunt switches using PZT/HfO2 multi-layered high k dielectrics for high switching isolation , 2005 .

[14]  Masayoshi Esashi,et al.  Characteristics on PZT (Pb(ZrxTi1−x)O3) films for piezoelectric angular rate sensor , 2004 .

[15]  Srinivas Tadigadapa,et al.  Lead zirconate titanate MEMS accelerometer using interdigitated electrodes , 2003 .

[16]  Nicolas Ledermann,et al.  {1 0 0}-Textured, piezoelectric Pb(Zrx, Ti1−x)O3 thin films for MEMS: integration, deposition and properties , 2003 .

[17]  Ryutaro Maeda,et al.  Design and Fabrication of 1D and 2D Micro Scanners Actuated by Double Layered Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) Bimorph Beams , 2002 .

[18]  D. Remiens,et al.  PZT Thin Film Bi-Layer Devices for Phase Controlled Actuation in MEMS , 2001 .

[19]  J. G. Smits,et al.  The constituent equations of piezoelectric bimorphs , 1989, Proceedings., IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium,.

[20]  Takayuki Fujita,et al.  A tri-axial accelerometer with structure-based voltage operation by using series-connected piezoelectric elements , 2010 .

[21]  Kensuke Kanda,et al.  INFLUENCE OF PARASITIC CAPACITANCE ON OUTPUT VOLTAGE OF SERIES-CONNECTED PZT ELEMENTS , 2009 .

[22]  S. Trolier-McKinstry,et al.  Thin Film Piezoelectrics for MEMS , 2004 .

[23]  P. Muralt,et al.  PZT thin films for microsensors and actuators: Where do we stand? , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.